Zebra Danio With A Swollen Stomach

[TankMan570]

Hey all,

I have a new tank with 3 Zebra Danios, but one of them has a huge stomach...

When I did my research, there were a couple of possibilities - Dropsy, constipation, or eggs...

I don't think it is Dropsy because the fins on that fish are not coming up/off, and other than its stomach it looks perfectly healthy...

However, I noticed a little white thing coming out of it's rear part (below it's tail, about at the end of the main body section) - its sticking out about a millimeter or so...

Additionally, it has decided to go on a crusade against the other fish, it keeps attacking them (I don't think they're playing, the other fish are running from it and trying to avoid it)

Is it on its way out?

My tank is a 10 gallon tank, I used one of those 5in1 strips to check the water, all parameters seem normal except for pH, which is between 8.0 and 8.5.

 

[TankMan570]

No one has any ideas? I'm afraid I'm going to get home to a dead fish...

 

[LucyB]

Can you get a picture please?

Look at her from above, look really closely, are her scales starting to stick out at all?

 

[the_lock_man]

Details are too sketchy to be confident on a diagnosis, but constipation is my best bet. Try feeding the tank peas tonight. Boil a frozen pea for a few minutes, then take its shell off. Mash it, using a fork, and pop it in the tank. If you happen to be having peas for dinner tonight, use one of them, providing the water used to boil them hasn't been salted.

Can I also recommend investing in liquid-based tests for the water? The paper strips are notoriously inaccurate, and the 5-in-1, IIRC, doesn't include a test for ammonia, which makes those test, IMHO, a complete waste of money. I use the Salifert kits, many others on this forum will recommend the API ones.

 

[leighton_87]

You say you've got a new tank - has it been cycled?

 

[jonny-5]

it sounds like constipation to me,if you dont do the pea thing try some live foods,they have always worked for me in the past. I have some Zebra Danios that i have had for over 4 years......i was told im lucky if they live for about 2.
Also they are still as active today as they were 4 years ago